Medals, ribbons and best times for County swimmers

Mickinley Miller – Gil Taylor photo

In competition at Kingston, front, from left, were: James Lossing, McKinley Miller, Yelena Hudgin and back row, from left: Leo Lossing, Annika Hudgin, Abby Taylor and Kim Pothier. – Gil Taylor photo

Medals and ribbons honoured the work of nine Quinte Dolphin swim team members in competition last week at the newly renovated Artillery Park Aquatic Centre in Kingston. Seven teams from across eastern Ontario were represented at the meet.

Leo Lossing was a big winner at the meet, earning two gold medals and four silver medals as well as a fourth place ribbon in the 11-year-old boys category. He placed in all seven of his events and led the team in overall points earned at the meet.

The Dolphin’s 10 and under boys were led by nine-year-old Mckinley Miller winning a gold, silver and bronze medals in addition to a fourth place finish.  10-year-old James Lossing won a gold and silver medal and a fifth place ribbon, while 10-year-old Matthew Petracca collected a silver medal as well as two fifth and one sixth-place ribbon.

Yelena Hudgin

Yelena Hudgin, 9, won a bronze medal and a sixth place ribbon  while her sister, 11-year-old Annika Hudgin won two bronze medals, three fourth place ribbons and one sixth place ribbon.

The senior Dolphins girls team was represented by 13-year-old Annie Labarge, and 15-year-olds Kim Pothier and Abby Taylor.  Taylor placed in six of her seven events winning one gold and two silver medals as well as two fifth place ribbons and a sixth place ribbon.  Pothier won a silver medal and a fourth and sixth place ribbon.

Head coach Jim Anfield is running a program which introduces kids to competitive swimming at PEFAC on Monday nights beginning after the March break. The Dolphins compete next in Belleville on March 28 and 29.

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BYST swimmers have best month in team history

Provincial team, back row, from left: Melissa Dingle (15), Rafik Jiwa (14), Lauren Taylor (14) and Nate Shiers-Redhead (14). Front, from left: Stephanie Cairns (15), Katelyn Cairns (15) and Mackenzie Latter (13).

County swimmers on the Belleville Youth Swim Team (BYST) were among 45 athletes competing at four meets over the past two weeks.
Twenty-four team records were broken and multiple medals were won on both the provincial and national stage – in meets at Quebec City, Etobicoke, Kingston and Brantford.

“The BYST gained recognition by many of the prominent teams across Canada and are now seen as a force to be reckoned with in the future,” said coach Brandon Oates.

At the Eastern Canadian Championships in Quebec City, Melissa Dingle brought home the bronze medal in the 50m backstroke at 30.84, in a long course (50m pool).  Between Dingle, Stephanie Cairns and Katelyn Cairns, the three athletes qualified for finals in 19 of 25 races.  Stephanie qualified for the A final in the 200m and 400m freestyle where she took 6th place overall, while Dingle raced in the A final in the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke, plus the 200m freestyle.  Katelyn’s strongest showing was in the 200m butterfly where she posted best times in both prelims and finals.  They combined for 77 per cent best times and Dingle was able to get personal bests in every single race.

In Etobicoke at Ontario Festivals, Thomas Butler and Noah Brooks competed well against the best 13 and under swimmers in the province.  Butler lowered his 100m butterfly time by almost a second to take 8th place overall at 1:08.81.  Brooks’ best race was the 200m backstroke where he dropped over four seconds to post a time of 2:33.08.

In Kingston, the BYST had 36 competitors post 77 per cent best times.  Eleven BYST athletes qualified for 13 and over finals on the Saturday night and the team took second place overall behind the host club.

Leading the charge was Ashley Allaire who had five gold and one silver, including a drop of over 15 seconds in the 400m freestyle amongst the 11 year old females.  Katherine Beaumont brought home two gold, a silver and two bronze with 100 percent best times in the 13-14 female category.  Erin Sommerville won the gold in the 100m butterfly for 11 year old females.  Sadie Morphet brought home three silver and three bronze in the 10 & under female category and her sister, Olivia Morphet, took the bronze in the 50m butterfly for 13-14 females.  Leah McGillen attained two silver medals in the 10 and under female 200m Individual Medley and the 200m breastsroke, while her sister, Maddie McGillen, achieved silver in the 12 year old female 200m Individual Medley.  Jenna O’Neill finished with a silver in the 100m backstroke and a bronze in the 200m Individual Medley for 12 year old females.  Gracey Vanberkel struck silver in the 50m butterfly and bronze in the 200m Individual Medley in the 13-14 female age group.  Victoria McDowell grabbed the silver in the 50m backstroke against the 12 year old females and Nicole Cairns managed silver in the 100m freestyle.

On the male side, Joseph Rittenhouse earned bronze in both the 100m backstroke and 100m breaststroke amongst 10 & under males.  Victor Coutu achieved a silver in the 200m breaststroke in the 12 year old male category, while Owen Googe earned the bronze in the 200m breaststroke in the 10 and under male age group.  In the 13-14 male age group, Nickolas Cinnamon took home a bronze in the 100m butterfly, Quintin Lichty swam to bronze in the 50m butterfly and Jeremy Moher raced to the bronze in the 200m Individual Medley.

BYST athletes with 100 per cent best times were Sruthi Amalan, Katherine Beaumont, Adam Bouma, Zoe Bouma, Victor Coutu, Paige Launderville, Leah McGillen, Jeremy Moher, Leah Oster, Felecity Petherick and Abigail Szuch.  Other BYST swimmers with exceptional performances included Madalyn Andrus, Craig Bekker, Charlotte Coutu, Olivia Goyer, Cameron Jardine, Jayden MacDonald, Karissa Manlow, Isaac Osbourne, Elizabeth Peterson, Amy Sommerville, Eva Tromp and Hayden Young.

At the Ontario Age Group Short Course Championships in Brantford, seven BYST athletes had tremendous performances, said Oates.

Rafik Jiwa

“Taking the largest team ever to this meet, the athletes held their own quite well against the best 13 and over swimmers in the province.”

Stephanie Cairns lead the way with two bronze medals in the 200m freestyle, clocking in at 2:04.95 and the 1500m freestyle, finishing at 17:47.40.  Rafik Jiwa earned the bronze medal in the 400m Individual Medley with a fast time of 4:49.48.  Jiwa also qualified for finals in the 200m breaststroke, 100m and 200m butterfly, plus posted best times in all of his events.  Melissa Dingle qualified for finals in the 200m backstroke, 100m and 200m freestyle, while Lauren Taylor also qualified in her first provincial final in the 200m backstroke.  Katelyn Cairns and Nate Shiers-Redhead both competed well and Mackenzie Latter had great showings at her first provincial meet.

The BYST host their next competition on March 28 and 29 in the Templeman Menninga Aquatic Centre at the Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre.